1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus and a semiconductor wafer inspection method, and particularly to a semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus and a semiconductor wafer inspection method for inspecting electronic devices on a semiconductor wafer for electric characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a plurality of chips with electronic devices are produced through various treatments to a thin plate-like semiconductor wafer. The chips are inspected for electric characteristics with the use of a semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus (also referred to as prober) and then diced for each chips by a dicing apparatus (also referred to as dicer).
A semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus includes a table, probes, and a tester, for example. In an inspecting method using the inspection apparatus, a semiconductor wafer to be inspected is placed on the mounting surface of the table and held there by adsorption. Each probe is then brought into contact with the electrode pad of the chip and signals output to the electrode of each chip are analyzed by the tester.
By the way, because electronic devices are used at a wide range of temperature, electronic devices need to be inspected, for example, at a room temperature (ambient temperature), a high temperature such as 200° C. or more, or a low temperature such as −55° C., in some cases. For this reason, some semiconductor wafer inspection apparatuses are provided with functions for inspecting in environments at these temperatures.
A conventional semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus is provided with, under the mounting surface of the table, heating and cooling means, such as a heater unit, a chiller unit, and a heat pump unit. By heating and cooling the mounting surface with the heating and cooling means, the semiconductor wafer placed on the mounting surface is heated and cooled to become the above-mentioned temperature.
In contrast, the semiconductor wafer inspection apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-323536 (hereinafter referred to as PTL 1) has a cold air generator above the conductive plate (table) and the cold air generator blows cold air toward the semiconductor wafer, which is placed on the conductive plate, and the conductive plate. It also has a hot air generator below the conductive plate and the hot air generator blows hot air toward the conductive plate. The temperature of the surface of the semiconductor wafer is thus controlled with air or nitrogen gas regulated to temperatures of 25° C. and 75° C., and electronic devices are then inspected for electric characteristics with the use of probes.